Before I begin I will provide a brief layout of this weblog so you can get straight to where you need. The weblog will begin by focusing on the main topic, which is how to install SAP NetWeaver 2004s (EP7 SP9) Trial Edition on Windows Vista Ultimate Edition. I will then proceed to provide some background as to why I wrote this weblog and will continue to write weblogs regarding my experiences with the product. And, I will close with some disclaimer information. Without further ado, let's begin.
Installing on Windows Vista Ultimate Edition
I've read some forum discussions on this topic, and through my own experience I bring you, what I feel, is a reasonable companion to the installation documentation. I'm referring to the documentation (START.HTM file in the SAPNW2004sJavaSP9_Trial folder after you uncompress the 2 .tgz files) which comes with the download package for SAP NetWeaver 2004s (EP7 SP9) Trial Edition.
Here are the specifications for my system that I've used:
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3200 (2.2 GHz)
RAM: 2.5 Gb DDR RAM
OS: Windows Vista Ultimate Edition (32-bit)
HD: 80 Gb (EIDE) - ATA 100
STEP 1
Before I began, I needed to make sure that certain annoyances of Windows Vista were disabled or turned off. First, I disabled the UAC feature - one of the most annoying features in any operating system.
In case you're not familiar on how to do this, simply open the Control Panel, select the 'User Accounts and Family Safety' option. Then, select 'User Accounts'. For your account (and any other account you wish, select the 'Turn User Account Control on or off' link. In the next screen, deselect the option to 'Use User Account Control (UAC) to help protect your computer'. Then click on 'OK' to apply the change. Usually this requires you to reboot Vista, so go ahead and do so, to apply this change.
Furthermore, I proceeded to disable Windows Firewall. You can do this by going to the Control Panel, and proceed to the Security section. There, you can choose the 'Turn Windows Firewall on or off' link under Windows Firewall. Then, in the 'Windows Firewall Settings' dialog, choose 'Off (not recommended)', then click 'Apply', and then 'OK'. As I already have a hardware-based firewall through my router at home, I don't need this feature enabled in Windows Vista.
STEP 2
The next step is a more tedious one, wherein you will need to make some changes to the system registry. To do so, simply run REGEDIT from the RUN function of the start menu or a command line. Here, go into the following section of the registry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\DPS
Highlight the 'DPS' entry in the left column (folder), and right-click on it. You should see a context menu appear with options such as Expand, Delete, Rename. Here, select 'Permissions'. A 'Permissions' dialog should appear. By default the 'SYSTEM' account will be highlighted and should have both Full Control and Read options set to 'Allow'.
If you highlight the Administrators and Users, they must also be set to 'Allow' for both Full Control and Read. If not, try and select them, and click Apply. If you are unable to do so, this means you do not have ownership to change rights for this function. To set this (take ownership), select the 'Advanced' button next to the text 'For special persmissions or advanced settings, click Advanced'. You should see an 'Advanced Security Settings' dialog appear. Here, choose the 'Owner' tab. You should probably see that the 'Current Owner' is set to SYSTEM. Under the 'Change owner to' area, select 'Administrators' and then select the option 'Replace owner on subcontainers and objects'. Now, click 'Apply', then click 'Ok' to return to the 'Permissions' dialog.
Once you're back here, you should be able to assign the Full Control and Read functions to both the Administrators and Users (whoever will be logged in to use NetWeaver). Click 'Apply' and then click 'Ok' to close the dialog and return to the Registry Editor.
STEP 3
You will need to repeat the process of setting the permissions (and ownership, if necessary) for each of the following registry entries:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\DcomLaunch
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\RpcSs
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\SamSs
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\TrkWks
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\TrustedInstaller
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\WdiServiceHost
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\WdiSystemHost
There may be other entries that will require this modification, and this may vary based on your system configuration or install. While you perform the actual installation (next step) you will receive errors indicating that access is denied to a specific entry. When this appears, do not abort the installation. Leave the error box open, proceed to make the fix in the registry editor, then press the 'Retry' button to continue with the installation.
STEP 4
Assuming you meet all the documented pre-requisites (such as having Java SDK 1.4.2_09 installed) you can now proceed with the actual installation. To do so, run the SETUP.BAT file located in the 'SAPNW2004sJavaSP9_Trial' directory that is created when you uncompress the 2-part .tgz files. During the installation you may be requested to specify the set of libraries to handle encryption/decryption. A link is provided in the installation to download this file from the Sun website. Proceed to download this file, and specify it's location on your PC using the 'Browse' button in the install window, then click 'Next' to continue.
As the install is proceeding, you will reach a screen entitled 'Prerequisites Checker > Results'. This merely identifies that your OS is not supported (when in fact it is, to a certain extent). Click Next. A window will appear warning you that you may see this error again, but can suppress this message by clicking 'Cancel'. Click 'Cancel' to do so and continue. Once you reach the 'Parameter Summary' screen, do a quick check to make sure what you've entered (according to the install, choose the defaults) is correct. Then, click Start to execute the installation. This can take about an hour to complete, so be patient.
The install will end with a message stating 'The Task has been completed successfully'. At this point, click 'OK' to exit the install window.
STEP 5
To run the installation, refer to Step 5 of the SAP-provided installation instructions (in the START.HTM file, under Installation). There it asks you to launch the SAP Management Console, and stop and start the J2E system. Go ahead and do this. You will notice that all services with exception to the 'jcontrol.EXE' under J2E -> (Your PC Name) 1 -> Process List will remain in a grey/gray mode, indicating it is stopped. If you highlight this item (in the right column) and right-click on it, you should get a context menu. In this context menu select 'Developer Trace'. You will see a new 'Developer trace' dialog appear, and in the log, you should see an error similar to the following:
*** ERROR => OS release Windows NT 6.0 6000 Intel 801586 (Mod 12 Step 0) is not supported with this startupframework (700) [jstartxx.c 4392]
This indicates that the application was launched in native Windows Vista mode. You will need to launch the application manually using the compatibility mode feature in Windows Vista. To do so, locate the 'jcontrol.EXE' from the developer trace text specified for value 'arg[00]'. If you went with the defaults during installation, this should be:
C:\usr\sap\J2E\JC01\exe\jcontrol.EXE
In Windows explorer, locate this file, and open its file properties. In the file properties dialog, select the 'Compatibility' tab. Here select the 'Run this program in compatibility mode for:' option, and in the drop-down, select 'Windows Server 2003 (Service Pack 1)'. Then, click 'Apply', and 'OK', to set and then close the file properties. Before you proceed to launch this manually, I would recommend performing this step for all the executables in this directory.
To manually launch the 'jcontrol.EXE', go either to the Start -> Run feature, or open a command line window, and enter the following:
C:\usr\sap\J2E\JC01\exe\jcontrol.EXE pf=C:\usr\sap\J2E\SYS\profile\J2E_JC01_{your-pc-name}
Where {your-pc-name} is the name of your PC you specified when you installed Windows Vista. You can find out the correct syntax, by viewing the Developer Trace, as mentioned earlier, of the 'jcontrol.EXE' program in the MMC application, and combine both the arg[00] and arg[01] values (separated by a space, of course). In the command line window the following text (or similar) will appear:
[Thr 5836] MtxInit: -2 0 0
As long as this appears and the command line window remains open, the application will continue to run. Wait for about 45 minutes, then proceed with testing the installation through the 'Getting Started' section of the 'Installation' page in the SAP provided documentation. Here you have a number of links that will test the various components you've installed to ensure they work correctly on your system. There are likely other tools or plugins you may require, but the documentation will assist you with downloading and installing this additional software.
Congratulations, you should now have a working version of the SAP NetWeaver 2004s Trial Edition working under Windows Vista Ultiamate Edition.
Background for this series of weblogs
About a month back after I'd joined IBM I'd touched base with a former colleague of mine who has been in the portal space as long, if not longer than I. He'd inquired about my background with EP7, and threw a whole bunch of acronyms (as if SAP does not have enough) my way. I realized that if I'm to reach the next level of my career as a Portal developer, I better get up to speed with EP7. As such, I decided to get the trial version that worked for me. I use Windows Vista Ultimate (32-bit) at home and require it for many of the applications I use. As such, I felt the need to make the installation work for me.
I did some searches on Google and came across some of the discussion that took place early last year regarding the issue of installing EP7 under Windows Vista. But, I didn't see a complete solution, so I thought I'd go ahead and make one, or at least a reasonably close-to-complete guide to performing the installation. I managed to do so, with some tweaking, and of course, some workarounds, but it worked. Now, that I've gotten a working environment, I feel that I should share my experiences and learnings, such that other developers can benefit from this information, and contribute as well.
For my IBM brethren, I have a separate weblog site within IBM's Intranet dedicated to this subject, that you can view, and I invite feedback both here and there to make this a valuable source for new and experienced portal developers.
Disclaimer
This weblog and the weblogs that will be part of this series, are by no means sanctioned or sponsored by SAP, nor are they to be considered official documentation. I am providing this information on behalf of myself to share my experiences and knowledge, and in no way guarantee the accuracy of this information, nor will I (or my employeer, IBM) be held responsible for any damages or other issues that arise from using this information. As such, I strongly suggest you proceed with caution, and test the instructions provided on a sandbox environment first before using it on your developer workstation/server.
